(again, unedited sorry i'm a flop)

✧･ﾟ: * nine *:･ﾟ✧

After Taehyung checks into the hotel and the two drop their luggage off, Taehyung takes Maddie to the boardwalk that's across the street from where they're staying. The ocean spreads out before them, broad and seemingly neverending. He takes a few pictures with his phone, stumbling over his words while he tries to describe the view for Maddie.

"It's, uh, blue. Very blue. And pi... pigeons?"

"Seagulls."

"Yes, yes, seagulls. Everywhere. You hear them?"

"I hear them," she replies with a smile. "Make sure one doesn't poop on my head, okay?"

"Eh?"

"Never mind."

After establishing they're both hungry for lunch since Taehyung's pancakes hadn't worked out this morning, he leads her to a little cafe along the boardwalk that has smoothies and sandwiches. It's even more confusing for Taehyung to order than the ice cream. There's so many different combinations.

Somehow he manages to order and get everything right. He takes the sandwiches and smoothies outside to the patio area where Maddie sits at a table, tracing circles on the screen of her phone. He frowns at the sight of the scowl on her face.

"Are you okay?" he asks, setting her lunch in front of her before taking the seat across her.

Maddie sighs. "Yeah, I just... Do you think I'm being mean?"

"Mean?"

"Yeah, like... not nice. By not calling my mom."

Taehyung hums. He doesn't know the situation with her mother, so he isn't exactly sure if she's in the right or not. But he knows family is always his first priority, and if he could rewind the time to have one more conversation with his father, he would in a heartbeat. You never know when someone will leave you.

"You should call her," he says, proud of himself for using the correct wording. He always gets stumped on "would," "could," and "should" since they all sound very similar.

"I guess you're right," she murmurs, but she doesn't seem happy about it.

"Maddie," he says, unwrapping his sandwich. "Your eom—mom loves you. You, uh, see if she is okay."

She nods slowly, picking up her phone. He watches her with fascination as she unlocks her phone with ease, finding the app without a problem. It's both impressive and saddening.

While she waits for her mother to answer, Taehyung reaches across the table and unwraps her sandwich for her, setting her smoothie cup atop the paper to add extra weight so it doesn't fly away when she eats.

He sips on his own smoothie and munches on his own sandwich, being quiet so she can speak to her mother in peace. However, after a few minutes, she tosses her phone onto the table carelessly, a groan leaving her lips. He looks up at her with concern, studying the way her eyebrows furrow and her nose scrunches. She drags her hands through her hair.

"What's the point of calling me nonstop if you don't answer when I call back? Probably drunk out of her mind," she grumbles under her breath.

Taehyung doesn't have a clue what she just said, but it's obvious she's upset.

"Maddie?"

She doesn't reply to him, which only worries Taehyung further. Before he can call her again, he catches sight of a tear slipping from beneath her sunglasses, trailing down her cheek. His eyes widen. She's crying.

He doesn't know what else to do except scoot his chair around to her side, putting a hand on her arm. "Maddie?" he whispers, wishing he knew what was wrong so he could comfort her better.

"It's okay," she mutters, wiping her cheeks without removing her glasses. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"No. You're sad." He tries to think of the word. "You're leaking."

She laughs a little, and that makes him feel better despite realizing he used the wrong terminology. "Crying," she says softly. "I'm crying."

"Why?"

"Nothing." But despite her saying that, he sees more and more tears streaking her cheeks. She puts her face in her hands, sniffling.

Hesitantly, he puts an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer. She lays her head on his chest. He runs his hand down her hair.

Maddie's phone rings.

"I can't," she mumbles, not bothering to look up.

Taehyung purses his lips, using his free hand to grab her phone. He's going to decline it to get it to stop ringing since they're in public and—oops.

He accidentally swiped the wrong way.

Panickedly, he puts the phone to his ear instead of hanging up like a normal person would.

"Hello?" a female voice shrieks on the other end. "Madeline? Madeline, you better say something right now!"

Taehyung doesn't know what she's saying, but she sounds angry and demanding so he says, "Maddie, uh, is not here."

"What? Who the hell are you? Where is my daughter?"

"My name is Taehyung. It's nice to meet you—"

"Put my daughter on the phone! I swear, only Madeline would travel with complete strangers. She's going to get herself killed one day... I said put my daughter on the phone now."

Taehyung's eyes widen at the woman's tone. Maddie finally raises her head from his chest, feeling up his arm until she finds the phone in his hand.

"Madeline? Maddie, are you there?"

Taehyung can still hear the woman clear as day.

"Yes," she says, a bit annoyed. "I'm fine and everything is okay. You don't have to call me every ten minutes."

"I've been worried sick!" the woman shouts.

"You didn't care much about me when I was home," Maddie says through her teeth.

Taehyung wishes he knew what they were talking about.

"Who was that guy?" the woman says, still sounding like she's speaking into a megaphone. "Madeline, if you picked up some random guy just to fund this stupid little expedition of yours—"

"What will you do?"

"I won't have a whore as a daughter, that's what."

"Then I guess you don't have a daughter anymore. Tae and I are already talking about getting married, you know, like those Las Vegas reality shows. It's a very spur-of-the-moment ordeal, but that's what life is about, right? I would prefer if you didn't yell at my fiance again."

Right when Taehyung truly thinks the woman has lost it (and her vocal chords), Maddie hangs up with a huff.

Taehyung glances over at her. He caught bits and pieces of the conversation, enough to know that she had been talking about him. "What is 'fiance'?" he asks.

Maddie's cheeks go red. "Nothing. Forget I said it. I just wanted to piss off my mom."

"Okay," he says, but he can't stop the curiosity from clawing at him.

So as Maddie eats, he pulls out his phone and goes to his trusty translator.

Needless to say, the heat in his face is comparable to the sun.

***

"Oh!" Tae says excitedly, suddenly yanking Madeline in a totally different direction from where they were going. "Boats!"

"You want to get on a boat?"

"Yes. Do you like boats, Maddie?"

"Sure, I guess." Honestly, she enjoys just walking with Tae, listening to him talk, but this is his trip and his money, so if he wants the two of them to get on a boat, then the two of them will get on a damn boat.

Tae takes them to the ticket booth where the man says, "Welcome! Are you interested in kayaking today?"

Madeline's eyes go wide. "Whoa, wait, kayaking?"

Tae simply repeats, enthusiastically, "Boats!"

"We recommend you wear swimsuits," the man says. "So if you'd like to go change, I can hold two tickets for you."

"Okay," Tae says, but Maddie is sure he doesn't know what was said.

"Tae," she says. "We need bathing suits."

"Eh?"

"Clothes. For the water. To swim."

"Ah, okay, okay."

"There's a surf shop right behind you," the ticket man says.

"Thank you," Madeline mumbles, a bit begrudgingly. Kayaking was definitely not in her agenda.

But again.

This is Tae's trip, not hers.

She has no right to tell him no after all he's done for her. She'll have to endure it, for his sake.

Tae asks a worker for help inside the surf shop, so she and Madeline communicate while Madeline does her best to explain it to Tae. The woman helps pick out a bikini Madeline's size, since Madeline has no idea how to shop for a bikini. She hasn't had one since before she lost her sight years ago, hasn't been to the beach or the pool since. Something about bodies of water and total blackness just set her nerves completely haywire.

The good thing, though, is that since Madeline can't see, there's no reason for her to be subconscious of her bikini body.

She still is, she supposes, but it's much easier to pretend as if she isn't crossing her arms simply to cover her stomach.

"Tae?" she asks. "Where are you? Are you ready?"

She hears him clear his throat. "Oh, yeah, uh. I will pay, okay?"

She nods as she hears him walk off. The woman who helped her chuckles beside her and leans in. "He was definitely checking you out, just saying."

Madeline's face flushes.

"He's cute," the woman adds. "You should definitely keep him around."

"Thanks for your help," Madeline says instead, too flustered to come up with anything better.

The woman laughs again in understanding. "Sure. No problem."

Back at the ticket booth, the man explains to them how kayaking works and the proper way to stay in control. Madeline listens closely, her heart already pounding with anxiety. She's terrified of them flipping over. In the ocean. With sharks.

She won't even be able to see it before it snatches her down to the seafloor.

Her hands are shaking when Tae takes her hand to lead her towards one of the kayaks. He helps her get in the front seat, the ticket booth man handing her a paddle. She tries to take deep breaths. Nothing will go wrong. People do this all the time. If it wasn't safe, it'd be closed down. Tae is with her. She's fine.

But she doesn't feel fine at all.

She feels Tae settle in the spot behind her before the ticket man gently pushes them off. It's unnerving to suddenly feel waves beneath her rather than the firmness of the ground. Both of them are off balanced at first, but not badly enough to flip themselves, luckily. She stays as still as she can, too scared to use the paddle in case she rows too strongly or leans too far.

Then, Tae giggles behind her.

He giggles.

(tae's laugh deserves a whole compilation so bless your ears):

https://youtu.be/OYgjFQVDQLo

She smiles naturally, her nerves calming a bit. Somehow, the two are able to paddle around for a good half hour, a decent portion of that time spent by Tae trying to lure a seagull onto his finger and fake crying like a baby when it doesn't work. He asks Madeline multiple times if she's okay or if she's having fun.

She is having fun, oddly enough. She forgot about the dark depths beneath and around her after a time, focusing on Tae's laughs and his words as he tries to tell her about the fish he can see swimming by. It's so easy to be calm around him when he gives off nothing but positive vibes.

That is, until a few assholes who don't know how to slow their boat down in the kayaking area speed past, sending wave after wave crashing into them. Madeline hears a splash followed by curses, undoubtedly another pair that had flipped. Madeline and Tae are right behind them, failing to regain their balance in the small boat. Water shoots up Madeline's nose despite bracing herself for the impact. She claws her way to the surface, her anxiety hitting her like a ton of bricks.

She feels around the water, but she doesn't bump into Tae, or into anyone. It feels like she's in the middle of nowhere, though there must be people around her somewhere. Tae has to be near, but she can't find him as she hurriedly swims this way and that. All she feels is the water swallowing her up, the remaining waves from the boat splashing into her face. She already can't breathe from panicking, and the water entering her mouth isn't help.

Right when she's about to call for Tae out of pure desperation and fear, she feels two hands on her shoulders and shrieks.

"It's me," Tae says. "Sorry. Are you okay?"

She shakes her head, feeling like she can't speak. She manages to say, "Get me out of here, please."

"Okay, okay." He almost sounds just as panicked as her.

She starts to swim off, but Tae yanks her back, his arms circling around her waist. Her hands press against his chest, feeling the fabric of a t-shirt despite it being completely soaked. Her cheeks are on fire, but Tae doesn't let her go.

"You almost got... hurt," he says. "A boat was there."

She's guessing he's trying to tell her that a kayak was going past and she damn near got taken down by it.

"Oh," she murmurs. "Thanks."

His grip loosens. "You ready to leave?"

She lets out a breath. "Yes, please."

But she allows a small confession to herself: almost being drowned by a kayak is the best mistake she's ever made.